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Assaults on writers and journalists in the Arab world are not uncommon, but the case of the Yemeni poet who just had his tongue cut out appears to be one of the most horrifying crimes against those who dare to express their views in public.

The poet, Walid al-Ramishi, was kidnapped by armed gangsters in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The kidnappers released him after they had cut out his tongue.

Al-Ramishi is now being treated in a Jordanian hospital, where doctors say he would not be able to talk again.

His alleged crime: he had written a poem in praise of embattled Yemeni dictator Ali Abdallah Saleh.

Abdel Salam al-Qabsi, a prominent Yemeni poet, condemned the gruesome assault, noting that it was the latest in a string of attacks on writers and intellectuals in his country.

In the past few weeks, a number of writers and intellectual figures were targeted by unknown assailants in broad daylight in Yemen.

Some say the attackers belonged to the government, while others have pointed a blaming finger at opposition groups.

The most recent victims included three women novelists: Bushra al-Maqtari, Huda al-Attas and Arwa Othman. The three women were beaten during anti-government protests in the Yemeni capital.

The assault on al-Ramishi, whose tongue was cut out, has been almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media and human rights organizations in the West.

Even the media in the Arab world, which is controlled by repressive Arab regimes, has ignored the tragedy of the Yemeni poet.

Can you honestly say that the 60's and 70's would have been as turbulent had we done the same thing to Bob Dylan around 1965?
Hendrix, Clapton, Dave Mason and a bunch of others have done Dylan's stuff better than he did it, so all we would have missed was his nasal voice.